"First, let me introduce you to yourself" (Beware RotE Spoilers)

[Mervi]

Oh, I wouldn't say Tolkien was a prude. One needs only to look at the Silmarillion and some other tales from the elder days and keep one's eyes open for the references... It's a different writing style from what we're used to these days, but romance and sex are definitely included.

FoolishGirl - how about Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain or Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising books? And the first Earthsea book by Ursula LeGuin - or perhaps all of them, it depends a lot on the child I think. (I *did* read all 4 when I was a teenager but especially the third one is VERY dark stuff so didn't feel like re-visiting until I was an adult which is the opposite of say, Dark Is Rising which I still re-read every few years. )